Love Stings (Rewritten)
by Ms.Madeline
Summary: Days after defeating Loki in Asgard and returning to earth, the Avengers are faced with fresh threats. But these threats are not the only things that plague Avenger Janet Van Dyne. Janet's confused romantic relationship with Hank Pym is severely damaged after Hank leaves the Avengers. (AU)
1. Chapter One

A small cloud of steam rose out of the ceramic cup of tea clutched in Janet Van Dyne's hand, causing the pleasant scent of chamomile to fill the air. In Janet's other hand was a paperback book depicting a well dressed Victorian man wrapping his arms around a beautiful woman dressed in an extravagant ball gown.

Janet sat comfortably in a plush armchair with diamond patterned mauve upholstery, which matched with the other accents of mauve sprinkled throughout the room. Located in the living room of Avengers' Mansion, Janet's room could be reached through a seven inch tall door right beside the fireplace. The room was a lot like a studio apartment for some five inches tall. It was complete with a fully stocked kitchenette, a quaint sitting area, and even a full bathroom through a door near the back of the room. All of it was made possible by Hank Pym, who had used his patented shrinking technology to make everything appropriately sized for her.

Janet knew Hank did it all to make up for what he'd done, she could often catch glimpses of regret and guilt in his eyes. It had been Hank who had made Janet into the Wasp, at her request of course. After her father's death at the hands of an alien entity unleashed during one of his experiments, Janet went to her father's colleague, Dr. Hank Pym. Jan knew of the things Dr. Pym had done with his so called Pym particles, and she knew she could use it to avenge her father's death. She convinced Hank to help her, but instead of creating something for her like his Ant-Man gear, he decided to try to genetically edit her with Pym particles, foregoing the need for the equipment. However the procedure went wrong, and instead of being able to shift her size, Jan ended up stuck small permanently.

In an attempt to make up for what he saw as his worst mistake, Hank genetically modified Janet to be able to grow translucent insect wings on her back, as well as harness her body's natural bioelectricity to be released in powerful electric bursts from her hands. An ability Jan had grown to lovingly call her 'stingers'.

After all of it, Janet did manage to get her revenge with the help of Ant-Man. They defeated the horrible creature called Pilai, sending it off to some distant prison, to be forgotten about.

While being several feet smaller than a normal human wasn't the easiest thing in life to deal with, Janet never regretted her decision. Afterall, had it not been for what Hank had done, Jan never would have been able to join the Avengers.

Sure, constantly being five inches tall made life living around the much taller Avengers a bit uncomfortable at times, but she always had her little room to go to, and Hank could always shrink down to her size. Although Hank continued to punish himself even after two years, despite the fact that Jan refused to blame him, and in fact had grown to care for him strongly.

Jan and Hank's relationship was a strange one, they had never officially become an item, and yet they were more than just friends. Honestly, Janet couldn't help but think sometimes that Hank was more interested in his science than he was in her. He wasn't nearly as crazy about the Avengers as Jan was, and he had even tried quitting the team several times.

Just then, Jan heard the loud and slightly earth shaking footsteps that announced that someone was out in the living room. She knew it could have been any of the Avengers, but she jumped to her feet and peeked out the door just in case. To her pleasure, she had been right, the footsteps did in fact belong to Hank Pym. Jan couldn't help but smile at the sight of the tall blonde.

Janet stepped out of her little room and flew up to eye level. Unfortunately, the Ant-Man gear had been seriously damaged by an especially powerful magic blast from Loki back in Asgard, meaning he couldn't currently change to Jan's size. Hank had promised to fix it, and that had been the only reason Janet had given him a pass on missing the past few 'Avengers Assembles'. She hoped he'd have gotten the gear up and running again, it would be nice to have someone her own size to hang around for a little bit.

"Hey, you're back." Jan said cheerfully, flying beside Hank's head as he walked. "I knew you'd come back, this is where we belong." She said, following Hank as he headed to the lab. "I know you're not sure about this, but after what we did in Asgard, I think we can really make this work." She continued, not yet taking note of how one-sided the conversation was and how less than excited Hank looked.

"Jan-" Hank finally said as he walked into the lab.

"You know, I was thinking maybe we could upgrade my stingers, add a little more punch to them." Jan chattered as she landed on one of the various clutter covered tables in the lab. "Do you think there's a way to make me fly faster, because that would be-wait, what are you doing?" She asked, finally realizing what was going on as Hank began to fill a cardboard box with his lab stuff.

Hank let out a long sigh as he placed a shrinking disk onto the now full box, causing the box as well as its contents to shrink to a pocket size. "Jan, I know you find it difficult to accept this, but I'm done." He said, tossing another shrinking disk onto his portable dome shaped laboratory.

After pocketing the dome lab, Hank turned and began to make his way out of the lab, forcing Janet to fly after him.

"I know you don't really like all the fighting and stuff, but maybe you could help in other ways or something." Janet said, the once cheery tone gone.

As he walked into the foyer, Hank let out another exasperated sigh, his eyes down on his feet with a solemn expression on his face. "The Avengers just isn't for me, maybe it is for you-"

"What about Ant Man, we're supposed to be a team, Hank!" Janet cried, now flying directly in front of Hank's face with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I can't fix the Ant Man gear." Hank said sharply, avoiding Janet's eyes.

"What do you mean you can't fix-" Janet began but was quickly cut off.

"I just can't!" Hank suddenly yelled, causing Janet to jump back a few inches in the air.

For once in her life, Janet was rendered speechless. Hank hardly ever yelled, he just wasn't the kind of person to raise his voice, especially against Janet. She simply stared at Hank with eyes full of hurt shock.

"I'm sorry Janet, but I'm leaving." Hank said darkly, then stepped around Janet and went out the door.


	2. Chapter Two

The next two days, Janet didn't once leave the comfort and solitude of her little room. Thankfully none of the other Avengers asked her to. There were a few disturbances that the other Avengers took care of, but nothing that required the whole team. Usually Janet was the last person to sit out of a fight, even a minor one, but she found herself needing time to figure things out on her own.

Jan was still struggling coming terms with the fact that Hank had all but abandoned her. She hadn't felt such heartache since her father had died, and even then she'd had Hank. Despite not always being the most comforting person in the world, he had always been there for her to go to. Jan could recall the week after defeating her father's killer, the grief had finally begun to sink in. Hank had let her stay with him for awhile. Jan remembered one particular night that she couldn't fall asleep. Hank had stayed up all night with her, just talking to her and keeping her mind off of the miserable thoughts invading her mind. And now, he was just gone from her life.

While being grateful that the other Avengers were giving her space, Janet hated distancing herself from them like this. She wanted to brush this off and go on being her usual happy-go-lucky self, but it just wasn't in her this time.

Currently, Janet sat on her bed with a blanket draped over her shoulders and a sad ballad playing from the speaker on her bedside table. She hated how well the somber lyrics of love lost resonated with her now.

Jan was pulled out of her wallowing by a loud knocking at her door. She tossed away her blanket and turned off the music before glancing at herself in the mirror to make sure her eyes weren't red and puffy from crying. The last thing she wanted was to elicit a sad look of pity from anyone.

Jan stuck her head out the door and tilted it upwards to see the face of Sue Storm. Sue was crouched in front of the door, glancing down at Jan as she stepped out of her room.

Since joining the Avengers, the time for socializing and friends had become very scarce, and as a result she had ended up drifting apart from many of her old friends. Despite the loss of some former friends, Janet was grateful for the new ones she had gained. Jan and Sue had a lot of common ground, both being superheroines with romantic interests who were constantly distracted by science. Unfortunately, the two didn't get to spend as much time together as Jan would like seeing as Sue and the Fantastic Four were often out on explorative missions in space or alternate dimensions.

"Sue, what are you doing here?" Jan asked in surprise, flying up and landing on top of the fireplace mantel as Sue got to her feet.

"We just got back in town the other day." Sue said, smiling. If Janet could remember correctly, the Fantastic Four had been researching a geomagnetic solar storm or something in outer space. She had thought they wouldn't be back for another couple weeks.

"You're back early." Janet remarked with a cheeky grin, momentarily forgetting the dismal mood she'd been in.

"Yeah, it turned out there wasn't much to research after all." Sue told her. "Although Reed wanted to stay for another week anyway." She added with an eye roll.

"Sounds like something Hank-" Jan stopped herself, horrified that she had allowed herself to forget that Hank wasn't going to be a part of her life anymore.

Sue gave Jan a sympathetic look. "I heard, Tony told me." She admitted. "I'm so sorry, Jan."

Tears pricked at Janet's eyes. Her tear ducts sure had been getting a lot of use lately. "I-It's ok, I'm alright." Jan lied, keeping her eyes on her hands.

"It's okay not to be alright." Sue told her, the comforting tone of her voice helping to prevent Janet from breaking into sobs.

The two spent hours talking in the living room of Avengers Mansion, Sue sitting on the large white couch with Jan perched on the arm of it beside her. By the end of it, Janet knew it had been a mistake to try to deal with what she was going through all on her own. Having someone to listen to her and help her to make sense of everything had been just what the doctor had ordered. By the time they'd finished talking, Sue was able to convince Janet to go out for dinner with her to help cheer her up. When Janet finally returned around 8:00, she felt far better than she had at the beginning of the day.

After taking a long bubble bath while sipping a crisp rosé, Janet watched a couple episodes of her favorite TV show before heading off to bed.

As her head hit the pillow, she began to realize she may actually be able to move on from Hank. Unfortunately Janet's subconscious seemed to disagree. Her night was plagued by nightmares, each and every one featuring Hank. A recurring theme throughout seemed to be Hank choosing another, full sized woman over Jan. By the time Janet finally woke up in the morning, she was drenched in a cold sweat.


	3. Chapter Three

p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"With nightmare images of Hank locking lips with other women still fresh in Janet's mind, she heard the voice of Jarvis, Tony Stark's personal computerized butler, speaking through the intercom in her room. "Ms. Van Dyne, Mr. Stark insists you join him in the Assembly Hall." He informed her. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Janet took in a deep steadying breath. "Tell him I'm coming." She responded, swiping the back of her hand over her sweat covered forehead. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She staggered out of bed, ignoring the head rush the action caused. Hurriedly she threw off her satin nightgown and exchanged it for black and yellow 'work attire'. She knew Tony wouldn't have woken everyone up at 6:45 in the morning if it wasn't for a good reason, especially considering how cranky Hulk got in the morning./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Despite flying at top speed to the Assembly Hall, Janet realized she was the last to arrive. "Sorry." She apologized hastily as she landed on the table in front of the seat designated for her. It was far too big for her to actually sit in, so it remained unused. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Normally Jan would have expected a lecture of some sort, but she suspected that Tony was going easy on her due to...recent events. One would think it would be one of the few positives to come from the situation, but Jan really didn't want her teammates pitying her or treating her like she was some kind of breakable thing. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Ten minutes ago I received a message from SHIELD that the helicarrier is under attack by some unknown enemy." Tony announced, a live feed of the damaged SHIELD helicarrier showing on the holoscreen in the center of the huge table. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Look who needs their asses saved again." Clint said with a smirk. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""We don't know what we're dealing with then?" Steve questioned, pulling his mask over his face. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Tony shook his head. "Not a clue." /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Just like always then." Clint quipped, following Captain America's lead and tugging the mask of his costume on. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Thor and I will meet you there." Tony stated before shutting the faceplate of his armor. He and Thor headed off toward the front doors of the mansion while the rest of the Avengers headed for the quinjet hangar. Nothing like fighting a super villain to forget about a break up. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Being too small to fit into any of the seats on the quinjet, Janet would usually sit on the shoulder of one of the Avengers. Before he had left, it had usually been Hank. Jan chased those thoughts away, she needed to focus on the mission, not let herself get distracted by stupid longing. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Once the other Avengers were settled into their seats, Janet flew in and landed softly on Steve's shoulder, shooting a playful grin his way when he glanced at her. "Everybody in?" Jan heard Clint say from the pilot's seat./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""We're ready, Hawkeye." Steve replied. "Let's get to the helicarrier." With that, Clint lifted the quinjet into the air and out of the hangar. The city of New York flew by beneath them as they made a beeline for the Hudson where the helicarrier was currently parked above. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Janet flexed her fingers in her lap anxiously. They had no idea what they were getting into, and ever since the Kree had showed up on Earth a little while ago, Jan had been dreading their return. If it was indeed the Kree attacking SHIELD, she feared there would be too many of them even for the Avengers to handle./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It wasn't long before the helicarrier came into view over the horizon, and it became immediately evident that something was wrong. Smoke was curling out of a damaged section of the ship, and the large windows that at the helm were cracked and even shattered in many places. However the damaged seemed to have been caused entirely by an internal source, meaning at the very least that Kree warships couldn't be responsible. That being said, Jan knew the Kree had teleportation technology, and therefore couldn't be ruled out as the perpetrators. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hulk, make a door would you?" Iron Man requested through the quinjet's speakers. The large hatch near the back of the ship opened up, allowing the Hulk to happily leap out and punch a wide hole in the top of the helicarrier. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Janet zipped in after Iron Man and Thor while the remaining Avengers lowered down on a rope. She was mentally preparing herself for the worst. Maria Hill was painfully prideful, and didn't much like the Avengers, at least so long as they weren't registered under SHIELD. Calling for help from them wasn't something Maria would take lightly. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Stingers at the ready, Jan took in the scene before her. The deck of the helicarrier was filled with unconscious SHIELD agents, an alarming sight to be sure. However a few agents were still standing, including Maria Hill. She was crouched behind a desk with her gun held tightly in hand and a murderous look on her face. "About time you got here!" She yelled coldly. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Captain America and Hawkeye dropped down beside Thor, Black Panther close behind. Jan saw looks of confusion cross their faces, reflecting exactly how she was feeling. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The remaining agents were all hiding behind things, apparently from some sort of villain who was on the other side of the room, and yet Jan saw no sign of whoever had caused all this damage. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Uh yeah, it looks pretty urgent." Hawkeye said, arms crossed over his chest./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Nothing to smash." Jan heard Hulk grumbled behind her in disappointment. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Tony shook his head. "No, there is something here, it's giving off some crazy energy signature." He said, no doubt using the tech in his suit to scan the room. He pointed over towards where the main computer was. "There, it's standing in the doorway, but it's invisible." /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""First time it's taken a break from ripping through my men." Hill muttered darkly. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Janet strained her eyes at the spot Tony had pointed at, as though that would allow her to see this invisible villain. She had never heard of anyone would could become invisible besides Sue Storm, at least not that she could remember. Meaning this was likely an entirely new enemy to contend with. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh great, an invisible monster." Hawkeye groaned. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jan remained silent as she hovered in place near Thor's head. She wasn't sure what to make of this, so many agents were down and yet none of them look injured or wounded at all. An uneasy feeling crept into her stomach. She was beginning to think something was seriously wrong. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Whoever, or whatever you are, show yourself and surrender." Iron Man ordered, holding up his left hand repulsor. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"To Jan's surprise, the villain obliged, his body rippling into sight out of nothingness. Janet had been right, he was unfamiliar, not someone they had fought before or anyone she recognized from SHIELD's most wanted list. His physical appearance looked mostly human, except for the unnatural green tinge to his eyes and the fact that his veins were made quite visible by the neon green fluid that seemed to be flowing through them. He obviously had a thing for green. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The creature glanced at all of the Avengers, but only when his gaze landed on Janet did his lips pull into a thin smirk that sent a shiver down her spine. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""The Wasp, exactly who I was hoping to show up." The creature said with cold amusement. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The Avengers eyes all turned to look at Jan, who was currently wearing a look of complete shock on her face. "Me?" She questioned. "Why me, I've never met you before." She exclaimed, arms crossed stubbornly over her chest. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh but you have." He replied smoothly. "How could you forget sending me off to that prison years ago?" He asked, feigning offense. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You're going to have to be more specific, I've sent a lot of bad guys to prison." Jan retorted./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"The creature shook his head. "I will be glad to wipe that arrogance clear of you when I bring your life near to its end." He sneered. "Know, my dear Wasp, that your death will be at the hands of Pilai."/p 


	4. Chapter Four

Pilai, the name was familiar, though it was not synonymous with the being standing before Janet. Pilai had been the horrible green mass of tentacles and eyeballs that had escaped through the portal opened by Janet's father during the experiment that had resulted in his death. It had been later on that Janet discovered that this creature was called a 'Kosmonian' and had in fact enslaved its entire society in its dimension. With Ant Man's help, she had defeated the monster and had it shipped off to some distant underground prison. At the time Hank had been wary of SHIELD, and avoided sending it to one of their four prisons. After that, Jan had thought very little of the Kosmonian. She didn't exactly want to dwell on her father's killer. But now, this near human creature before her claimed to be the same monstrous alien she'd fought before? It seemed unbelievable.

"There's no way." Janet told the creature, refusing to believe the one responsible for her father's death was free.

"I suppose I must look a bit different from when we last met." The creature replied. "I was able to evolve myself with the unwitting help of the scientists that experimented on me night and day while I was imprisoned." He explained, bitterness in his voice. "I gained much greater power, and turned myself into something a bit more...discreet than my previous form."

Janet was beginning to feel sick to her stomach. The painful memories and emotions tied to the death of her father came rushing back in a horrible raging torrent. A part of her wanted to burst into tears, and another part of her wanted to explode into violent rage.

"So you do know this guy?" Hawkeye asked, glancing over at Janet.

She remained silent for several long moments, unwilling to open her mouth lest sobs or screams come out. Finally, "He's the reason I became the Wasp."

"I had heard rumors that you had joined a little hero group, but I must say I am surprised to see you without the Ant Man." Pilai commented snidely. "The two of you certainly seemed to be the best of friends when we last met."

Seeds of concern had instantly been planted in Jan at Pilai's words. If he was looking for revenge on her, then he would likely seek it on Hank as well, whether or not he had given up on being Ant Man. No amount of relationship trouble between Jan and Hank would ever stop her from caring about him, and in his case worrying herself half to death over his safety.

"I would have liked for him to have shown up with you, saved me the trouble of tracking him down." Pilai remarked. "But no matter, once I have finished you off, I will simply hunt him down and destroy him as well." He said darkly.

"You're not going to touch him." Janet spat, her fists tightening as bioelectric energy surged around them.

"I think I've heard enough." Maria Hill said. Jan turned to see her pull a gun out her belt and aim a shot directly at the alien's chest.

The blast left no mark, Pilai simply smirked. "My quarrel lies only with Ant Man and the Wasp, but if you attempt to stop me, then I will gladly kill you." He said, and with that he lifted a hand and sent a blast of thick green energy at Hill, hitting her square in the chest and knocking her backwards into unconsciousness.

"Take him down!" Iron Man yelled.

The Avengers began to attack, Iron Man firing repulsor blasts that seemed to have as much effect on him as Maria's gun. Hawkeye shot several explosive arrows at his feet, all leaving him unscathed. Jan lurched forward to join the attack, but was stopped by T'Challa's hand in front of her. "You will be giving him exactly what he wants." He warned with his usual wisdom.

There was burning rage in Janet, urging her to attack, to ignore Black Panther's warning and destroy the being that had killed her father and threatened the man she loved. However she knew T'Challa was right. Getting close to Pilai would make it all the more easy for him to get what he came for. As much as Jan hated it, she knew she had to hang back.

Janet watched as Captain America threw his shield into the alien's chest, which caused him to stumble backwards, but otherwise affected him little. Hulk, as usual, charged forward without a second thought and tried to tackle Pilai to the ground, but was blast back by a particularly powerful blast of green energy.

"Guys he's way more powerful than before, he was nothing like this last time." Jan shouted, flying high above to avoid the barrage of energy blasts.

"I told you, I have evolved." Pilai said with a menacing laugh.

"Enough of this." Thor growled angrily as he swung his hammer around, summoning lightning. "Have at thee!" He yelled as he fired the lightning into the alien.

Pilai fell backwards onto his back with a thud, his body seizing and sparking from the electricity.

"Surrender, creature." Thor ordered, hammer pointed at the alien threateningly.

Pilai wore a dark scowl on his face. "This will not be the last you see of me." He hissed before he disappeared in a flash of green light.


	5. Chapter Five

The Avengers sat around the table in the Assembly Hall, Jan sitting cross-legged on top of it with her head leaned against her hand

All of the Avengers had troubled pasts, it kind of came with the territory. There was always a difficult history that spurred a person into becoming a superhero, but Janet had always considered her origin story to be fairly dry when compared to Captain America's or Hulk's. It wasn't as though she had been living a particularly hard life before her father died, she'd led a life of partying and living it up as a socialite. What happened to her father marked the worst part of Janet's life, and now it was coming back to haunt her.

Tony had already tried contacting Hank to warn him, but to no one's surprise, he hadn't responded to an attempt at communication.

"So how exactly do you know this guy?" Clint asked with a raised eyebrow.

While not being too keen on recounting the story of her father's death in front of her team, Jan knew she would have to. As much as she hated dragging the other Avengers into her own personal drama, Pilai was clearly a threat to more than just Jan and Hank, no matter what he had claimed on the helicarrier. With a sigh Jan began to tell the story of how Pilai came to Earth and the havok he wrecked before she and Hank defeated him.

As Jan concluded her story, she looked around to see several sad looks of sympathy aimed at her. It seemed it was impossible for her to escape pity today, no matter the cause.

"I'm sorry Jan, I didn't know." Tony said quietly, breaking the silence.

Jan shook her head, brushing off the apology. "It's fine, I just thought that thing was going to be locked up in prison forever." She replied with a sigh.

"No one ever seems to stay in prison anymore." Clint remarked with an eyeroll.

"What do you know about this alien?" T'Challa spoke up.

Jan folded her pale arms over her chest. "Hardly anything, we just took him out and sent him to prison, I didn't really want anything to do with him after that." She admitted. "But apparently he got a big power boost somehow."

"He's not the first alien we've dealt with, but he's definitely not anything we've seen before, and he's not in the SHIELD database." Tony told them.

"He's tough, but he can be hit." Steve stated. "Thor's lightning seemed to do a number on him." He pointed out.

Tony got to his feet. "I can try to track him, but the energy signatures he gives off are all over the place and not easy to get a read on." He said. "Until then we need to stay on our toes, like Pilai said, I don't think we've seen the last of him."

With that the Avengers were dismissed. Thor went off to meet with his paramedic friend, Jane Foster. Meanwhile Clint, Cap, and Hulk headed to the training room, T'Challa went to his room to meditate, and Tony made a beeline for the lab. Despite Cap inviting her to join in with the training, Jan declined. She had something she wanted to do.

Closing the door behind her, Jan stepped quietly into her room. With a sigh she pulled out her Avengers ID card. Her fingers turned white as she gripped it in front of her. She had already had to stop herself from calling Hank on several occasions since he left, but now she felt she had to. Though Hank hadn't responded when Tony had called, Jan held onto some frail hope he would answer for her.

Steeling herself, Jan pressed the call button on the card and waited. "I'm just calling to warn him." She reminded herself as the call continued to go on unanswered. A minute passed with no response. With a cry of frustration Janet threw the card across the room. "Damn it Hank, it's important." She seethed, sliding down the door to sit with her knees pulled up against her chest.

As much anger as Jan felt towards Hank, it was overshadowed by the fear of what Pilai would do to him if he found him. Unlike Janet, Hank didn't have the Avengers to help protect him, he'd be entirely vulnerable, especially given the fact that he had no idea Pilai was coming.

Janet laid her head against her knees. "Please stay safe, Hank." She whispered, hoping her will alone would be enough to protect him.


	6. Chapter Six

The blue numbers on the microwave clock read 12:34 am as Jan flew into the kitchen and landed on top of the counter next to a box of Cheerios that must have been left out by one of the other Avengers earlier.

Before Hank had left, Janet had always had food shrunk down for her to keep stored in the kitchenette in her room. However with Hank gone, Jan had run out of food in her room, meaning she would now have to venture into the kitchen of Avengers Mansion and eat crumbs off of the regular sized food. Just another reason to be miserable about Hank leaving.

While cereal wasn't her first choice for a midnight snack, Jan felt far too lazy to pull open giant the cupboards. With a swift kick Jan knocked over the Cheerios box. Thankfully it had at least been closed by whoever had left it out earlier, meaning she hadn't just spilled a pile of cereal all over the counter. Jan tugged open the top of the cardboard box and began pulling out pieces of the circular cereal.

Just as she began to nibble on her second Cheerio, the lights flicked on in the kitchen and a tired looking Tony Stark walked in. He rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand as he went to the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice. Not yet noticing Jan's presence, Tony grabbed a glass out of an upper cupboard and filled it half up with juice before putting the carton back into the refrigerator. Only after taking his first swig did he notice Jan sitting atop the counter with a Cheerio in hand.

Tony jumped slightly when he spotted Jan. "Sheesh, sorry Jan, I didn't see you there." He said with a tired grin as he sat down on a stool next to the counter.

Jan gave a light giggle. She had a tendency to sneak up on the other Avengers in the mansion, often times without even meaning to. She could recall a time when she startled Clint so much he nearly jumped right out his skin.

"Hey Tony, trouble sleeping?" Janet asked, taking another nibble from her Cheerio.

Tony nodded as he ran a hand down his face. "Yeah, an impending alien invasion on top of a threat from a completely new kind of alien can be a bit stressful." He said with an exhausted sigh.

Janet hadn't even attempted to go to sleep that night. After last night's nightmare-palooza and the anxiety caused by Pilai's return, she figured it could only end badly. Everything seemed to be going wrong all at once. The Kree's threat of invasion, Hank leaving, and now Pilai's unexpected resurfacing. Perhaps sleep would be a nice escape from the constant hand wringing, but Jan doubted she would ever be able to fall asleep. "Yeah...just a little." She replied.

There was moment of silence as Tony took a drink of his orange juice and Jan took another bite of Cheerio. She looked up to see Tony had a focused looked on his face, as though he was mentally debating on how exactly to phrase what he was trying to say. "Listen Jan, I know things have been...tough with Hank leaving the Team and all-" He started but Jan shook her head. She had had enough sympathy for one day.

"It's fine Tony, we've got bigger problems than my breakup." She told him with a weak smile.

Tony shook his head. "I know, but I feel like you've got all this stress piling on you and sometimes I think you don't think you can talk to us-'us' meaning the Avengers-"

"Tony, you're rambling." Jan pointed out with a smirk. It wasn't too often that the great Tony Stark got flustered, but Jan could tell talking about feelings wasn't exactly his strong suit. Either way, she appreciated the effort. "Thanks." She told him softly. "Who knew you could be sweet when you wanted." Tony tinged slightly red in the face.

Janet finished up the last of her Cheerio and got to her feet. "Well goodnight, Tony." She said as she flew up off the counter.

"G'night, Jan." Tony replied, recovering from his briefly fallen composure.

Jan gave a wave before flying back into the living room and through the little door beside the fireplace. Rather than going to bed, she spent the rest of the night painting her finger and toenails. Despite the fact that her nails were too small for anyone to really be able to notice when she painted them, Jan liked the focus the activity required. No doubt she needed the distraction.


	7. Chapter Seven

As tired as she had been, Janet managed to stay awake the whole night, and by the time 8:00 am rolled around, she was in desperate need of some caffeine.

Jan changed into some comfy casual clothes, her uniform hidden underneath as per usual. After running a brush through her short hair, she wandered into the kitchen for some coffee. Clint, Tony, and Hulk usually stayed in bed pretty late, so she expected they wouldn't be up yet. Steve would no doubt be on his long morning run, and T'Challa and Thor, ad Jan discovered, were sitting in the kitchen.

"I would not underestimate Amora friend T'Challa." Thor warned as Jan flew in. "Until she is in Asgard's prison she is a threat."

"I do not disagree, but I do not think she should be our main focus." T'Challa responded, taking a bite from some sort of Wakandan dish.

"Hail, Wasp." Thor greeted Jan as she landed on the counter next to Tony's fancy coffee maker.

"Hey, guys." Jan yawned, punching in a few buttons on the touch screen of the coffee maker. She didn't even have to get her own cup with this machine, even Tony Stark's coffee maker was high tech.

Jan flew over to the table T'Challa and Thor sat at and placed herself atop a salt shaker while she waited for the coffee maker to do its noble work. "So what are you guys talking about?" She asked, trying to hold back another yawn.

"We were discussing the best way to approach the threats that face us." T'Challa said as he stabbed a weird looking plant with his fork.

"Seems like there's a million." Jan sighed as she rubbed tiredly at her eyes.

Thor nodded solemnly. "The challenges we face are many, but I have great faith in the Avengers." Thor stated, the godly deepness to his voice instilling a certain confidence in Jan.

"We must hope the Kree will delay their attack upon us, at least until we can locate and capture the creature that attacked us yesterday." T'Challa said soberly.

Just then a cheerful bing sounded from the coffee maker, announcing the completion of Jan's vanilla latte. Jan hurriedly flew over to the waiting cup, eager for the caffeine to take affect and make her eyes stop feeling so heavy.

Ater Janet moved into Avengers mansion, Tony had reprogrammed the coffee maker as well as several other items in the mansion to accommodate her size. The coffee machine could now make nice little Jan sized mugs of coffee. The mugs, Jan knew were from a doll tea party set, but the fact that Tony had taken the time to make things convenient for her was touching, so she decided to forget about that particular detail. She grabbed the appropriately sized cup of coffee and took a long sip, savoring the sweet vanilla taste.

"Mmmm, I swear there is absolutely nothing better than caffeine." Jan commented as she flew back over to the table and retook her seat on top of the salt shaker.

Thor looked at Jan questioningly. "I will never understand mortals' obsession with that beverage." He said, eying the drink clutch in Janet's hand uncertainty.

"Have you ever tried it?" Jan asked, quirking an eyebrow while T'Challa look on in amusement.

Thor shook his head. "Well no, but-"

"Then you haven't lived." Jan told him before taking another gulp of the delicious hot drink.

Just then the voice of Jarvis filled the room, almost causing Jan to fall off of the salt shaker. "Alert, intruder detected."

"Someone's attacking the mansion in broad daylight?" Jan questioned as she flew up off of the salt shaker. "Wow, villains must be getting dumber." She remarked as she reluctantly left he mug of coffee behind on the table.

"Where are they Jarvis?" T'Challa asked the AI butler.

"Unable to detect, sir." Jarvis replied. "My scanners are down."

Jan pulled off her civilian clothes and tossed them aside. No point in risking ruining a perfectly good set of clothes in a fight after all.

"Thor, go search in the lab, hangar, and training room." T'Challa instructed. "Wasp, go wake up the others." He added, pulling the mask of the Black Panther suit over his head.

"Aye." Thor agreed before grabbing his hammer from where it had been resting on the floor next to the table, swinging it once, then flying down the hallway.

"What about you?" Janet asked Panther.

"Securing the computers, the last thing we need is for this intruder to gain access to the information stored on the mansion's system." T'Challa responded.

Jan nodded in understanding. The mansion's system had files on all of the Avengers, containing all kinds of information that could be used against them.

Black Panther headed off for the Assembly Hall where the main computer was located. Jan pulled her antenna earpieces out of a pocket and placed them over her ears before taking off in the air towards Tony's bedroom.

Despite having a huge estate in LA, Tony spent many of his nights in Avengers Mansion. Janet certainly didn't blame him, his house in LA must seem so lonely compared the mansion full of off duty superheroes.

On the way to Tony's room, Jan pulled out her ID card and sent out an Avengers Assemble. She didn't know whether or not this intruder would require the full force of the whole of the Avengers, but given how many enemies they had made of late, she wasn't about to risk it. However she had a feeling the ID cards' beeping wouldn't be enough to wake her sleeping teammates, meaning she'd have to do it the old fashioned way.

Using her ID card to get in through the computer locked door, Jan flew into Tony's bedroom to find him sound asleep in his huge king sized bed.

Janet landed on top of Tony's pillow, directly in front of his big snoozing face. "Wake up, Tony." She told him, hands on her hips.

Besides a small twitch of a facial muscle, Tony gave no sign of waking. "Get up, we've got bad guys to beat up!" Jan insisted, more loudly this time. Tony began to stir, but only to roll over onto his other side and continue to sleep on. Jan gave an impatient huff as she flitted over to the other side of the pillow.

Then, as an idea occurred to her, she couldn't help the mischievous grin that spread across her face. Janet lit up a fist with bio-electric energy and aimed it at Tony's cheek. With a satisfying zap, she blasted the billionaire in the face with a low powered bio-electric shock, making sure to fly a safe distance away afterwards. This proved to be a good choice seeing as as soon as he woke up, Tony started to flail his arms around wildly, letting out a startled yell.

Janet couldn't hold back the laugh that burst out of her after that, earning her a glare from Tony. "What the hell was that for?!" He demanded, putting a hand to the new red spot on his cheek.

Jan tried to stifle her laughter. "Sorry, sorry, I had to wake you up." She explained, swallowing down her giggling. "Jarvis says there's someone in the mansion."

"What? How? Where?" Tony asked, pushing the bed sheets off of himself and getting to his feet.

"We don't know where, Jarvis' scanners are down." Janet responded. "Panther and Thor are looking right now." She told him, flitting near his face as he stumbled over to his dresser and pulled out the skin tight suit he usually wore under the Iron Man armor.

"Did you really have to zap me?" Tony questioned, throwing a glare at Jan as he slipped into the bodysuit.

"Hey, I tried yelling at you." Jan replied with an innocent shrug.

Tony just shook his head at her as he finished getting dressed. "What about Hawkeye, Hulk, and Cap?" He asked.

"I sent out the Avengers Assemble, so Cap should be on his way." Janet informed him. "And I was just about to go get Clint and Hulk up now."

"You'd better sting them too." Tony told Jan, pointing at her accusingly.

Jan just laughed as she flew back out of the room and into the hallway. The next closest room was Hulk's so she would go wake him up now, though there was no way she was going to wake him up the same way she had Tony. Jan had no desire to get smashed today.

She made it about halfway to her destination before she ran into trouble in the form of a masked man dressed entirely in black. He stood in the center of the hallway, a gun clutched in his hand. "And who are you supposed to be?" Jan questioned, unimpressed. This guy wasn't familiar to her, then again only his eyes were visible so it was difficult to tell.

The man made a gruff laughing sound, "We're just a couple of guys making some money." He said.

"Couple of guys-" Jan started but was cut short as she was hit in the back with a powerful blast. Taken by surprise, she tumbled to the ground, landing on the marble floor with a painful thud that knocked her right out.


	8. Chapter Eight

A low groan escaped Janet as pain instantly began to flood her senses at her return to consciousness. Her eyes remained shut, as they felt heavy and weighed down. Loud thundering sounds echoed around, becoming clearer the longer she was conscious.

"Who are you, what do you want?" Janet heard who she thought was Captain America yell distantly.

"We already got what we want." Another less familiar voice said, sounding more close by.

"Cap, they've got Jan!" The voices were becoming clear now, that one had definitely belonged to Iron Man.

The next thing Jan noticed before opening her eyes, was the tight feeling around her entire body, a powerful grip holding her arms to her sides. Jan's eyes began to flicker open, as she took in her surroundings. She was in the foyer of Avengers Mansion. Captain America and Iron Man stood blocking the front doors of the mansion in defensive positions. Janet then looked down and realization hit, recent events quickly coming back to her. There had been intruders, and she had been shot in the back by someone. Now it seemed she was trapped in the hands of that someone. His red gloved fingers were wrapped around her body, keeping her arms tightly pinned to her sides and her winds pressed uncomfortably against her back. Jan glanced to the left to see the man she had seen in the hall earlier, his gun pointed towards Steve and Tony.

Janet let out a grunt as she tried to free herself from the hold of this stranger. "Let go of me you bastard!" She hissed through gritted teeth. Her instincts were urging her to sting her captor like there was no tomorrow, but she knew that with her hands trapped against her sides as they were, she would end up hitting herself.

"Let her go, you have nowhere to go." Iron Man growled, holding both hand repulsors up.

Janet locked gazes with Steve who gave her look as if to say "we'll get you out of this" and she didn't doubt it for a second. Jan trusted her teammates explicitly. They had never given her a reason not to. No matter what happened, they always came through in the end.

"We could go through you." Janet heard her captor reply above her.

Suddenly there was a flash of light, followed by more flashes and the sound of guns being fired. Everything became a blur as the man that held Jan charged at Iron Man and Captain America. She saw Cap stumble backwards from a kick to the chest and Iron Man fall to his knees from an electric shock through his armor. Then suddenly she was outside. Two motorcycles were waiting outside the front gates, one red and one black.

Jan heard the shouts of her teammates from behind her, then a couple more gunshots. Jan gave one last feeble attempt at escape before she found herself being thrown into a bag attached to the side of one of the bikes. The bag was latched and she was plunged into darkness.

Yellow light surrounded Janet as she tried to blast her way through the bag, to no avail. Whatever this bag was made out of was strong enough to withstand her stingers. All she could do was sit and listen to the sounds of the battle from inside the bag.

In a normal fight, Jan had no doubt that Iron Man and Cap would be able to take down these two masked losers. However, her kidnappers didn't need to win, they just needed to fend Steve and Tony off long enough to get away.

The motorcycle Jan was trapped on roared to life, swiftly lurching into motion. She could feel the bike speeding away from Avengers Mansion, leaving her teammates behind.


	9. Chapter Nine

After what felt like an eternity, the motorcycles finally pulled to a stop and the loud roar of the engine was silenced, providing Janet's eardrums with much needed relief. While the drive had seemed to last forever at the time, if Jan had to guess they couldn't be much more than twenty minutes out from Avengers Mansion.

"Come on, let's finish this up." Jan heard a voice say before light suddenly streamed into her little prison. She squinted her eyes in the brightness, unable to adjust to the change in lighting before a huge hand was grabbing her and pull her out of the bag. Fingers once again pinned her arms to her sides, this time belonging to the guy in black.

Janet strained against the hand trapping her, only seeming to succeed in causing her captor to tighten his grip. "I don't know who you guys think you are, but you're going to regret this." She seethed.

The man holding her chuckled, "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Jan took in her surroundings as her captors began to make their way towards an old abandoned looking warehouse with boarded up windows and tagging on the walls. They looked to be near the edge of New York City, in some warehouse district that looked almost entirely uninhabited now.

Once the two men reached the rusted steel front doors of the building, the man in red threw open the door and stepped inside, closely followed by his partner who shut the door behind them with an echoing slam.

The warehouse looked just as run down and abandoned on the inside as it had on the outside. The only light in the room came through between the boards covering the windows. Not exactly an impressive supervillain lair.

For a moment Jan thought the warehouse was empty but for henchmen 1 and 2, but then someone stepped out of the shadows, a familiar someone. "I did tell you that you would see me again." Pilai drawled, wearing a cruel smile on his face.

"I should have known." Jan hissed, glowering at the green veined alien.

"Alright we did what you wanted, now where's our money?" The man holding Janet demanded.

" _Paid henchmen, figures."_ Jan thought bitterly.

"I have no need for human currency, however I was able to obtain this." Pilai said as he tossed something rectangular and plastic to the man in red. "It belonged to a man who...has little use for it now." The mercenary examined the credit card closely before pocketing it with a satisfied nod.

"Where do you want this?" The man in black asked, gesturing to Jan.

Jan let out an indignant huff at being referred to as 'this'. She would need to make a point out of tracking these two thugs down when this was all over and showing them what her stingers felt like.

Pilai tossed a little device onto the ground. Once it landed, the device instantaneously converted into a gerbil sized cage with what looked like reinforced bars. "Put her in there." Pilai ordered.

Jan's captor didn't hesitate to toss Jan unceremoniously into the cage. Before she could even get to her feet to attempt an escape, the door of the cage was slammed behind her with a clang.

"I have your guaranteed discretion, correct?" Janet heard Pilai ask as she pushed herself up off the hard metal floor.

"Whatever you're up to is none of our business, we won't make a peep." One of the mercenaries promised.

"In that case, it was a pleasure doing business with you." Pilai stated, waving his hand in a 'get out' gesture.

The two men made their leave, meaning Janet was now alone with a vengeful alien that wanted her dead. Things certainly weren't looking up for the Wasp.


End file.
